To List or Not to List

Your Life in Lists

To list or not to list, that is the question.

It seems as if book lovers are also list lovers. We list books to be read and books we have read. We record our favorite authors and those writers we would not likely give a second chance. We love to read books about books (another list); the Top Ten Favorite Reads compiled by other book lovers; and, keep lists of books we have purchased.

I have a book on my shelves entitled List Your Life: Listmaking as the Way to Self-Discovery. Authors Ilene Segalove and Paul Bob Velick offer 175 Topics for the reader to consider. At the top of each page is the topic or question and then 20 or so lines for your response. 

There are many of such List Books on the market. But even before they became popular, I thought that for a list lover as myself  making lists of the things in my life that I enjoyed or hated, places I had visited, and jobs I had had would make a great autobiography. I would call it My Life in Lists.

But where to start? Which is why I purchased this book, a guide and a source, as a way to begin. 

Here are a few of the prompts:

Heroic feats you have performed

Ways you have changed for the better

What's in your glove compartment

Things you have lent that have not been returned

Paranormal experiences you have had

Restrictions that you can't stand living with 

Oh, dear. I may need more than 20 lines for that last one.

As you can see, this goes a bit beyond just listing your favorite books, cities, movies, foods, and movie stars, although there is room for those as well. 

What lists do you keep? Do you have one of these List Books that offers suggestions on listing your life? Have you used it or like mine, has it been sitting on a shelf for a while?

I would love to hear from you. Leave me a list in the comments.